flossenburg concentration camp and museum

I may be a bit of an optimist, because I was pleasantly surprised when we visited Flossenburg Concentration Camp. I had been told there wasn't much, and that's not inaccurate. What is there is interactive and informative. There were more artifacts than I had been expecting and although there isn't much left as far as buildings, you definitely get a sense of the place when you visit. Because I knew survivors of a different camp, I found the personal portraits most compelling. We took our kids aged 8-18 and they were interested the whole time we were there. I appreciated that the exhibits had explanations in English. It was a solid historical lesson without being overwhelming or taking too long to see. We followed that up with a hike up to the Flossenburg ruins which I recommend for a good cardio workout.

While not as big as some of the other camps, this camp is still educational and a good place to visit.

This was one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had. I knew going in that I was going to be very solemn, but I didn't really understand how much this would impact me....The museum was well done, with both German and English translations for everything. There was a short film available, with one of the showings in English as well. You are free to walk the grounds, and can even go inside the crematorium. Everything was free, including parking. It took us several hours to go through everything, as we wanted to be thorough while in the museum.

As far as concentration camps go, I think this was a good one to take our young children (ages 5 and 8) to. There was plenty for them to see and experience without it being too overwhelming. There was only one part that I didn't let them see - a video running on a loop in the old kitchen/dining hall (it had some disturbing images of corpses). Otherwise, they were able to get a lot out of our visit.The outdoor components such as the remembrance garden were a nice counterpart to the indoor exhibits. They provided a more hopeful outlook as we completed our visit.

The drive to Flossenberg was well worth the effort if you have interest in the facts and the pure evil of the Third Reich attempt to change the face of humanity. The museum and grounds are well maintained. The exhibition hall is a huge, multi story facility including displays in English and German, multi media displays including voices and videos of survivors. There is NO CHARGE of this museum, the best value we found anywhere in Bavaria. We were able to be near the site where one of the real defenders of the Christian faith during Germany's dark time was executed - Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And to be able to see and touch the crematorium was a solemn experience.

I learned so much about this camp as I walked through the exhibits housed there. It was established to use prisoners to extract the granite that is in the surrounding area. Slave labor. Allow a minimum of two hours.

The exhibit halls are extremely informative. We got the chance to see video clips, audio recordings and artifacts from the Flossenburg Concentration Camp. I highly recommend it.

An amazing though sombre place to visit, much of this German concentration camp has been preserved with many parts of its grim history for all to see. There are graphic videoed interviews of survivors, photos, written stories, Nazi "death" books with the exterminated victim's names and several preserved buildings. A credit to the German people for telling it how it was, histroy retold very honestly and well. A true museum.It was a very confronting place to visit having a relative there in the hill of ash right next to a furnace, in fact frightening and upsetting. So don't go expecting a happy day out, but do go to see what happened to many people in WW2.

One of the smaller camps in Bavaria. Great day trip. Historical information about the camp and the Crematorium is still there. Probably one of the better camps for small children.

Flossenburg Concentration Camp , Established in 1938 as a source of forced Labour to exploit Granite from surrounding hills.Whilst not a "extermination" camp compared to the well known Dachau and Auschwitz Camps, As you walk round it gives a very sombre experience....conditions for the inmates were none the less very brutal. The guided tour is well woth it's 40 euro cost.One can not help to be moved by the systematic de-humanisation experienced by all of it's 100,000 inmates......30,000 at least lost their lives.Am pleased as a family we had this experience.

This was just amazing!! Would visit again. I would recommend to spend the money for a guided tour. You get more information about the camp.

Two buildings are full of real life experiences of the horrible past of the camp. It explains the story behind the concentration camp and many visuals for all ages. This is a must see when visiting Flossenburg.

The Flossenburg Concentration Camp Memorial is every bit as significant as some of the other, more widely known concentration camp memorials. Flossenburg was one of the earliest camps, and no less horrific than the others. There are a large administration building, and two other buildings still intact, along with the crematorium and ash mound in the rear of the camp.. The former laundry building is now a museum...very sobering and incredibly complete in its information and portrayal of a very dark chapter in history. Much of the grounds are now gardens and memorial tributes, which, while no means diminishing the significance of anything, are uplifting. Located in Bavaria, this memorial is something one should see.

Not for anyone that isn't read to walk on and view the horrors of the Nazi past. Very informative, yet sad place to visit - even the scenery with its large guard towers and overcast skies were only a small taste of what once was operating here.

When I arrived at this camp my first impression was that there was nothing here. There are a few barracks buildings left. Remains of walls and building foundations. One of the barracks is used as a museum and is crammed full of items and history of the camp. Take a walk to the very rear of the camp and you will find the camps crematory and what is referred to as "The Valley of The Dead". This area contains the bones and cremations of thousands of prisoners who were tortured and died at Flossenburg. I little known fact to most people is that for every concentration camp there are many sub camps that operate under it. Flossenburg had a total of 84 Sub Camps.Below are statistics of the camp.Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the Schutzstaffel (SS) Economic-Administrative Main Office at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, near the border with the Czech, Republic then known as Czechoslovakia. Until its liberation in April 1945, more than 96,000 prisoners passed through the camp. About 30,000 died there. Notable inmates included: Bertram James ("Jimmy" James), RAF, survivor of the Great Escape / Prince Philipp, Great-grandson of Queen Victoria / Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran pastor and theologian.On the death march to the Dachau concentration camp, SS guards shot any inmate too sick to keep up. Before they reached Dachau, more than 7,000 inmates had been shot or had collapsed and died. I simply cannot describe the feelings that one experiences when they visit a concentration camp.One can feel the pain and anguish of the people who suffered tremendous torture there. A visit to any concentration camp is never fun. It is most certainly our obligation to educate ourselves as to the atrocities that took place so that it will never happen again.